Origin
Hey : 1: English (Yorkshire and Lancashire): variant of Hay.2: Dutch: variant mostly Americanized (or archaic) and Flemish of Heij a topographic name for someone who lived on a heath Dutch hei heide.3: German: metonymic occupational name for a grower or mower of grass from Middle High German höu ‘grass hay’.4: North German East Frisian and Dutch: from an ancient Germanic personal name formed with hag ‘fence enclosure’ as the first element.5: South German: occupational name from Middle High German heie ‘ranger warden guard’ or a topographic name from Middle High German haie ‘protected wood’.
Athey : 1: English (mainly Yorkshire): topographic name for someone dwelling ‘at the enclosure’ from Middle English atte hey (from Old English (ge)hæg ‘enclosure’).2: Irish: variant of Athy.
Buskey : 1: English (Lancashire): topographic name from northern Middle English busk ‘bush’ + hey ‘enclosure’ (Old English busc- + (ge)hæg). This surname is now rare in Britain.2: Americanized form of French Bousquet.
Crawshaw : English: habitational name from any of various minor places in Yorkshire of which the most probable are Crawshaw in Bradfield Crawshaw in Emley Crawshaw Hey in Saddleworth and Crawshaw Field in Pudsey; or from Crawshaw Booth in Haslingden Lancashire all named from Old English crāwe ‘crow’ + sceaga ‘copse thicket’.
Haithwaite : from Haithwaite in Nicholforest (Cumb) which is recorded as Haytwayt in 1275 or Haythwaite in Barningham (NR Yorks) which is recorded as Haithwait in the 12th century. The place-names derive from Old Scandinavian hey ‘hay’ + þveit ‘clearing meadow paddock’.
Hay : 1: Scottish and English (northern; of Norman origin): habitational name from any of several places in Normandy called La Haie or La Haye (Old French haie ‘hedge enclosure’ ‘forest for hunting deer and other animals’ a borrowing of the ancient Germanic word haga). Robert de Haia or de la Haye is known to have come from La Haye-du-Puits in Manche; he was the founder of Boxgrove Priory in Sussex (1123) and holder of the Honor of Halnaker (Sussex) and (by marriage) the barony of Kolswein (Lincolnshire). The Norman name was also taken to Ireland where it has since flourished in the county of Wexford as Hay and Hayes. Elsewhere in Ireland the name usually has a native Irish origin see below.2: English: topographic name from Middle English hay(e) heye heghe ‘enclosure’ (Old English (ge)hæg) or ‘forest fenced off for hunting’ (Old French haie); or else a habitational name from a place so called such as Hay (in Herefordshire and Westmorland) or Hey in Scammonden (Yorkshire). It was no doubt sometimes synonymous with Hayward.3: English: nickname for a tall man from Middle English heigh hey high ‘high tall’ (Old English hēah).4: English: from the Middle English personal name Hai(e) either an Anglo-Norman French or a native English name. Old French Hai is recorded in the Latin form Haius in 11th/12th-century Paris and is a pet form of ancient Germanic male names like Hagabert (Old French Haiebert) and Hagabern) which have an element hag- ‘right-handed useful’ as the first element. Alternatively these early surnames may be pet forms of a native Middle English male name like Heymund (Old English Hēahmund) or a female name like Hehild (Old English Hēahhild) which have hēah ‘high’ as the first element. In the late 13th and 14th centuries however it is possible that Hay was a variant of Haw which like Daw and Day was used as a rhyming pet form of Ralph. Compare Dawkins and Dakin and see Haycock.5: Irish: variant of Hayes.6: Spanish: topographic name from haya ‘beech tree’ (ultimately derived from Latin fagus).7: German: occupational name from Middle High German heie ‘guardian custodian’ (see Hayer).8: Dutch: variant of Haye 1. This surname is rare in the Netherlands.9: French: topographic name from the masculine form of Old French haye ‘hedge’ or a habitational name from Les Hays (Jura) or Le Hay (Seine-Maritime).10: Jewish (from the Middle East): from Hebrew ḥay ‘living’ either from a personal name based on this word or a Hebraicized form of some original Ashkenazic surname. Compare Chay and Hai.11: Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic hayy ‘alive’ (see Hai 1).12: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 夏 possibly based on its Teochew or Hokkien pronunciation see Xia.
Hayson : 1: from the Middle English personal name Hey (see Hay) + son. Some of the following bearers may alternatively belong with (2). 2: see Haysom Heesom Easton or Esson.
High : English:: 1: nickname for a tall man from Middle English heigh hey high ‘high tall’ (Old English hēah). Compare Hay 3.2: topographic name for someone who lived ‘(on the) height or hill’ from Middle English heigh ‘height hilltop’ (Old English hēah). Compare Hight.
Hoyland : 1: English (Yorkshire and Derbyshire): habitational name from any of the four places of this name in southern Yorkshire: Nether and Upper Hoyland (in Wath upon Dearne) High Hoyland (in Barnsley) and Hoyland Swaine (in Penistone). The placenames all derive from Old English hōh ‘heel spur of land’ + land ‘land’.2: Norwegian (Høyland): habitational name from any of numerous farmsteads notably in southwestern Norway named in Old Norse as Heyland from hey ‘hay’ + land ‘(piece of) land farmstead’. Compare Highland Hoiland and Hyland.
Moorey : 1: from one of the various places called Moorhay or Moor Hey (meaning ‘moor enclosure’). 2: from an unlocated place called Morwra (Old Scandinavian mór + vrá ‘moor nook’).
Southey : English: habitational name from any of several places called Southey especially one in Culmstock (Devon) which is named with Middle English bi south ey ‘(place) to the south of the water’. Southey in Ecclesfield (Yorkshire) and Southey Green in Sible Hedingham (Essex) are from Middle English south hey ‘south enclosure’.
Strohl : South German: probably altered from Ströhle a diminutive of Stroh a nickname for a farmer with little and bad hey.
Vandehey : Dutch (Van de Hey): variant of Vanderheyden.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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